Press Report 3rd October 2022 – London Marathon Special  

LONDON MARATHON
Sunday 2 October

There was an outstanding run from Sameena Ahmed of Ilford AC at Sunday’s London Marathon as she finished in 3 hrs 09 mins 34 secs for 2775th place in the field of 40000 and 56th in the F40 category. Sameena ran at a steady pace throughout the race reaching halfway in 1 hr 34mins 53 secs. Her time was a personal best by 42 minutes and also a new Ilford club record for her age group and the 5th fastest Ilford lady in its 99 year history. She was one of the 8 Ilford runners in the race.

Amy-Louise Bird was making her debut at the distance finishing in 3 hrs 31 mins 39 secs while Sebastian Parris, found the going hard in the latter stages of the event recording 3 hrs 32 mins 47 secs

Dennis Briggs crossed the line in 3 hrs 45 mins 11 secs, followed by Gaye Young finishing in 4 hrs 11 mins 38 secs.

Deeper in the field were Ray ‘Sparra’ Everingham in 5 hrs 15 mins 45 secs, Julia Galea with 5 hrs 30 mins 04s and Brennie Gabbidon in her first marathon in 5 hrs 45 mins 28 secs.

Brennie’s partner Rhoan Gabbidon also ran the Marathon virtually on the day in a time of 4 hours 51 mins 45 secs

Ilford AC also had 8 runners in the London Mini Marathon the previous day, recording outstanding results.
For the U17 boys Joseph Grange finished 3rd with Ronan Edwards recording 28th.
There were 4 boys representing the club in the U15 boys race. Samuel Crane led the pack in 30th with good performances also from Aaron Hick in 49th, Ryder Islam in 77th and James Thake in 102nd.

Ilford had one girl in the race Sofia Crane, Ilfords youngest runner on the day, who ran well for 134th in the U13 girls category.

CHINGFORD LEAGUE
Eastbrook End Country Park
Saturday 1 October

The first of the winter’s cross country events was held at the Eastbrook End Country Park In Dagenham in bright conditions.
Ilford AC had 3 runners in the Senior  Chingford League match over about 4 miles. Andy Catton came home 122nd in 32 mins 45 secs with Bradley Brown 147th with 34 mins 32 secs and Jim Tilbrook finishing 203rd in 39 mins 29 secs.

In the earlier Junior races a brilliant run over the approximate 2k course by U11 athlete Khalif Ali saw him share 3rd place in a time of 11.38

Next home for the club was Hashim Khan who despite suffering breathing difficulties came home in 22nd place in 16:31

In the U13 race the first Ilford runner was Damien Amaniampong in 14th position and a time of 14.42.  Followed closely in 15th position by Ibrahim Khan in a time of 14.49.

The U17 race was ran over 4.2 miles due to some marshalling errors but Mohamed Zergouat dug in and finished strongly for 3rd place in a time of 30.46

All the athletes were making their competition debuts and all produced great performances.